Alright, if you'll take your
Bibles and turn with me again to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter
1, we'll be looking at verses 40 through verse 45. The Scripture says, "...and there
came a leper unto him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him,
and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion,
put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will
be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken,
immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. The title of the message this
morning is Christ, an Able and a Willing Savior. An Able and
a Willing Savior. This account of the healing of
the leper is very important. You know, when the Lord says
something in His Word and He says it once, it's eternally
important. But here, this miracle is recorded
for us in three of the four Gospels. It is recorded in Matthew, and
here in Mark, and in Luke. And so this is written, and is
very important as it is written three times by the Holy Spirit. This account was written for
the strengthening and comfort of God's elect. For those who
believe in Jesus Christ, this account of the leper was written
for your strength, for your encouragement, because your Savior is both an
able and a willing Savior. He is able and willing to save
us from all our sins. John says this of the miracles
and signs in John chapter 20 and verse 30. He said many other
signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which
were not written in this book. But these are written. that you might believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might
have life through His name. And in the next chapter, John
says this in chapter 21, John 21-25, And there are also many
other things which Jesus did, and which, if they should be
written, every one, I suppose that even the world itself could
not contain the books, that should be written. Our Lord Jesus Christ
did wonderful, amazing things. And these that are written, these
are not all He did. He did many more. And John says
if we were to write them all down, the world could not contain
all of the things that He had done. And I'll tell you, I have
many books. And I've seen libraries that
are as big as this room, full of books concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I tell you, that's not even
a small portion that if they should be written, what you would
see. But these miracles, this miracle that Jesus did, and was
given to us by His witnesses, was for us. And so I hope and
pray this morning that the Spirit of God that God Himself would
reveal the purpose of this miracle to your heart. There was a man
who was a leper and he came to Jesus for healing. This was a
real man. This is not a fictitious story.
This is not a story, a hypothetical story. It's not even a parable. This is a true event. This man
was a leper. He was a real man who suffered
a real disease. This man, his hurts, his sorrows,
and his sicknesses were real and painful. I tell you, people who are suffering
such illnesses as cancer, diabetes, and heart troubles, and those who have never had these
health conditions, we may feel for them. But I'll tell you,
we really cannot enter into their suffering, can we? We can feel for them. We can
suffer for them. We can give our time. We can
give our effort. We can visit them in the hospital
when they're sick. We can help them when they have
need. But we can't fully understand
what they're going through unless we've experienced it ourselves. Leprosy was a very destructive
disease. It was a flesh-eating disease. It was a disease in the flesh
that spread throughout the whole body right down to the bone. Matter of fact, the scriptures
reveal to us that this certain condition was not even considered
what we would call a sickness or a disease, but rather this
specific illness was seen as a curse from God. Imagine not only having a sickness,
not only having a disease that was sure to kill you, but it
was also known that it was a curse from God. Now the blind man that
was born blind, Jesus, He put that to rest pretty quickly when
His disciples said, well, why is this man blind? Is it because
of sin? Did this man do something, or his parents? What is it? And
Jesus said, that's not why he's blind. Blindness was not a curse. But I'll tell you, the Scriptures
reveal to us that this disease of leprosy is a curse of God,
and it was not ever meant to be healed. It was never meant,
it was never given to them to heal this, only to isolate it,
only to cut it away from the rest of the people so no one
else got it. It was a curse. You remember
when Naaman the Syrian came to the king of Israel, he had that
letter from his king. And that letter told the king
of Israel, it said, I'm sending Naaman to you and I want him
healed of this leprosy. That king, he was so distraught. He said, why is this guy wanting
to war with me? And he tore his clothes and he
said, am I God that I can heal leprosy? Only God could heal
this disease. Only God could heal this. You remember when Miriam, the
sister of Moses, was struck with leprosy. Aaron asked the Lord to heal
her, and he said that she would not be as one dead. Leprosy was a living, what they
called the living death. the living death. It was a hideous
sight to see those whose flesh was
literally eaten to the bone. And how sad it must have been to
be pronounced unclean and be cast out from your family, your
friends, your home, to experience utter loneliness. The horror and pain of this condition
not only was physical, it was emotional, and it was spiritual. Because this person was not only
to be cut off from his family, his house, and all that he had,
he was to be cut off from the worship of God. This was a all-encompassing
curse upon a man. Imagine for a moment that these
people who were under the law were no longer allowed to assemble
together. Believer, what if you were cut
off from the worship of God that you could no longer come in and
hear the gospel? Would that not devastate your
soul? Tell you, a believer can't live
without this message. A believer cannot live without
hearing this message. It would be utterly devastating. We live in such a time to where
we're free to come. And I'll tell you, it seems more
of a detriment to us. But yet, I'll tell you, if we
were ever cut off from it, we would know more of our need of
it. We need it. This man, he was
cut off from everything. He had nothing. He was cursed
of God and outcast of men. And this man came to Jesus. He
was a desperate man. This man was hopeless of finding
a cure, hopeless of ever being accepted in the worship of God,
being outcast and despised and hideous in his appearance. He was not able even to be touched. You think about that. Not being
able to be touched by another human being. What if you could
not been embraced or held by those that you love? This man was ostracized. He was
cast out and cursed of God. It is then this man hears a message. The Lord Jesus was in the temple,
in the synagogue, and He was preaching. And there was a man
who was possessed of the devils. And this man fell out, and the
Lord Jesus commanded those devils to depart from this man. And
it was an amazing miracle that happened in the middle of that
worship service. And everyone was amazed at it.
Then he went to Simon's house and his mother-in-law was sick
with a fever and he healed her and she ministered unto him.
And you know what happened that night? After that service is
they brought all of their sick people to his door. And he healed all of them that
came. Everyone that came was healed.
And imagine the hearing of this man. He's a leper. He's an outcast. And he hears that Jesus heals
sickness. And so this man, in desperation,
comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. Would that not give you hope?
If you were in that condition, would that not give you hope?
There was a man who was able to heal. And he came to this
man. He came to Jesus. And he came
and fell down as a beggar, kneeling before him. Matthew says this,
and he worshipped him. Worshipped him. Saying, if you will, you can
make me clean. This man knew that Jesus was
something more than just a man. Otherwise, he wouldn't have come.
Remember, only God could heal leprosy. This man believed that
Jesus was God in the flesh. And he came desperately seeking. Desperately. He worshipped him
and said, if you will, Jesus, I know you can. I know who you
are. If you will, I know you can. Make me whole. This man worshipped Him and he
came to Jesus in desperation because the law could not heal
him. Why do you suppose he went to
Jesus and not the priest? Because the law could only pronounce
healing. If you were to go to Leviticus,
I don't want you to go there now, but if you go to Leviticus 13,
you read this. The scripture says that if a
man was covered from leprosy from the top of his head to the
bottom of his feet, and there was no fresh skin, if you could
not see one patch of fresh skin, then the priest was allowed to
pronounce that man clean. Now, when he pronounced him clean,
did the leprosy go away? No. No. He could pronounce him clean,
but you know what happened if the man later started to get
a piece of good flesh back on his skin? You know what would
happen? He would be pronounced unclean.
So the law could only pronounce clean or unclean. The law could
not cure If a man with leprosy have it,
and he's have it from head to toe, he's pronounced unclean,
but if he gets one piece of flesh back that's good, he's pronounced
unclean again. This is always the law. The law
can never cleanse. This man did not seek help from
the law, but from Christ, and he said, if you will, you can. The Scripture This Scripture,
this miracle, was not just to show us the power of Jesus to
heal leprosy. That is not the intent of this
passage of Scripture. This passage of Scripture in
no way could give you or me any encouragement why we've never
had physical leprosy. You know, I really can't identify
with this man physically, can you? I can't identify with this
man emotionally, can you? Not in a physical realm. I've
never had physical leprosy. But I tell you, I can identify
with this man in a very spiritual sense. Because leprosy is not
that is physical, but is one that is spiritual leprosy. I can not only sympathize, I
can empathize with this man because he and I and you all have the
same disease, the same curse, because leprosy is sin. Oh, sinners see that all of us
by nature are lepers. All of us by nature have the
sin of leprosy and are excommunicated from the people of God and the
worship of God. I tell you, some of you are believers
in Jesus Christ. You are the sons of God. And
some of you do not believe. You have no part with us. You
have no part with us. You are outcasts, you are outside
of God's people, and you have no assurance. All men by nature come out this
way. We come forth from the womb consumed
with this incurable plague. This plague of sin is passed
down to all of Adam's race. I'll tell you, some men may vary
in the amount of leprosy that they perceive. to have. Some men may cover their leprosy. Some men do a good job of it.
They pretend that they may be righteous. They pretend they
have a good show in the flesh. Some men try to cover their leprosy
with morality and religious works and good smooth words. But one
thing about it is that no one can cover this leprosy from God.
God doesn't look on the outside, He looks on the heart. Now, you
may act good in front of other people, but God sees what's on
the inside of you. He knows your heart. Some people may only have a scab
of two or leprosy, while others are covered with only a few places
they consider to be good. But I tell you, it doesn't matter
if you're religious or immoral. It doesn't matter if you are
the worst, vile, vagrant in the world, or you are the most religious
before men. We all, by nature, are lepers. Both are unclean. Both the moral
man and the great sinner, anyone who is trusting in themselves,
are unclean before God. The spiritual leprosy is infinitely
worse than the physical because the physical leprosy is going
to end. They're going to eventually die
and that skin disease, that physical disorder will end. But one thing
about spiritual leprosy is that it's forever. If you have this
disease and it is not cured by Jesus Christ, then I tell you
that this leprosy is something that will last for eternity. This man knew his plague could
only be cured by God, and he came to Jesus Christ. Do you
know your condition? Do you know your needs? I was talking to a pastor friend
of mine, and he was talking with a man, and he said, I just don't
have a need. He said, I hear what you're saying,
and it sounds good, it sounds reasonable, but I just don't
have a need. He has a need, he just didn't
know it. Are you convinced of your unrighteousness? Are you convinced that you have
no hope to heal yourself? Are you convinced the law can
do nothing but condemn you? Then here is the message for
you. Go to Christ. Go to Christ. Come to Jesus by
faith. Come by faith as this man did. This man came and kneeled before
Jesus and said unto Jesus, besought Jesus, If Thou wilt, Thou canst make
me whole. I know You can. I have a need. And I know that
only you are able. Do you know that Jesus is able? Jesus said this, I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now if you're a sinner, that's
good news. If you're self-righteous, then
you've got no need, you won't come. Jesus said that He came as a
physician to heal the sick. Are you sick? Are you sick with
sin? Then Jesus said, Come unto Me and I will heal you. Jesus said to the dead, Verily
I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall
hear the voice. I'll tell you, if there's somebody
who has a need, it's a dead person, isn't it? Dead. Are you dead? And Jesus has come to give life
to the dead. I tell you that I am one that
has been healed from the leprosy of my sin. I have come to Jesus Christ by
faith, having no confidence in my flesh, having no confidence
in myself, no confidence in my ability. I come to Him bowing
down to Him, and I have found that He is not only able to save,
but I have also found Him willing to save. Just as this man did. I came. I have come to Jesus
as a complete sinner needing a complete Savior. I have come to Him as one guilted,
plagued with guilt, and I found myself to be an outcast before
God and His people. I could not come into the presence
of God, and I knew that He would have been right to throw me into
hell. Do you know that? Do you have a need? But God who is rich in mercy. One thing about God throughout
the scripture is that He has revealed without being ashamed. God has revealed to us He delights
in mercy. He delights to show mercy. I'll tell you, that's good if
you need mercy. God sent His Son made of a woman, made under
the law, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. Why? So that He
Himself might pay the debt of our sins that we owed to God. And I heard this message. I heard
that He was able. And I came because I believed
He was able. I tell you, if you don't come
to Christ, it's because you don't believe He's able. Because you
don't believe He's able. I came to Christ believing He
was able to cleanse me of my sin, and just like this poor
man, I sought mercy. And I tell you, He cleansed me. Have you found Him to be as you
found it to be so with yourself? You who believe in Christ, have
you not found Him to be both able and willing to save? I testify to you I found Him
an able and willing Savior. Behold Jesus, being God manifest
in the flesh, had not come to condemn us. He had not come to
condemn. You and I were already condemned.
He didn't come to condemn this man. He came to save this man. I know that many unbelievers,
they think Him to be a cruel taskmaster. Jesus is no such
thing, is He? He come to seek and to save the
lost. He came to heal. This is the
work of Jesus that He came to perform. He came to perform our
righteousness for us. Not condemn us of our unrighteousness.
We were already condemned. This man already had leprosy.
He didn't come to compound this man's leprosy. He came to heal
it. Come to Christ and He will heal
you. He will. This is the work He
came to perform. This is why He made His soul
an offering for sin, so that He might heal us from our sins. Therefore, cast off all your
reasons, all your merit. You who are dead, leprous, hideous
sinners, Jesus can heal you. There's none too far gone in
this old leprosy that he cannot heal. Some of you might say, I know
he can heal. I know he can heal, but will
he heal me? I'm a dead dog sinner. I've gone too far. Will He heal me? This man came with the same kind
of faith. Why would you not come with Him?
Come to Christ knowing He's able and ask if He's willing. Why do you tarry? Why would you
tarry in your sin? Why would you wait? Come now! If you know He's able, if you
know He's God in the flesh, if you know He came to save sinners,
why would you not come? Come! He's able! And see if He's
willing. And I tell you, you'll find Him
very willing. Jesus is able to cleanse us from
all our sins, and I tell you, He is willing. This is His will.
This is the will of God that He cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. Go to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. Verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, look
at this, I will. in no wise cast out. Why? Because I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that
of all which He had given me, I should lose nothing, but raise
Him up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me. that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up
at the last day." This was the will of the Father. What this
man didn't know, this leper, he came to Jesus, and he knew
he was able. He didn't know if he was willing,
but he came begging, and he said, Jesus, if you will! What he didn't
know was that Jesus came for that specific purpose. He came
for that purpose. He was there at that time to
meet that man right there. I love this in our text. Sometimes
I wonder why scriptures are there and then all things. are moving according to His divine
will. Look at this in verse 38 of our text in Mark chapter 1.
He says, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there
also. For, therefore, I came forth. This is the reason why
I came forth. I got to go to the next town. They wanted him
to stay. They said, Jesus, stay with us. He said, I can't. I've
got to go meet a leper. I got a leper that I have to
meet. That's why he left that town. He went to the other town.
That leper didn't know he was coming. That leper didn't know
he was there for that purpose. That's why he said, Lord, if
you will. What do you mean if I will? That's why I came in
here. I came to heal you. Of course I'm willing. This is
the reason I came into the world. To save all that the Father gave
me. Sinner, behold the heart of the
Lord Jesus Christ. When this man came, the scripture
says in verse 41, Jesus was moved. with compassion. I don't want to get into all
of this. It would take forever for me to try to explain it. But I want us to know this, that
God is not a God of passion. So when Jesus was moved with
compassion, it's not like Jesus felt something new for this man. Jesus always loved this man He had always loved this man
and now was the time of love From all eternity Christ was
moving toward this time to save this man Just like he was moving
in time to save me. He was moving all things to save
his people and And so when Christ felt compassion for this man,
know this, that he wasn't like our compassion, just a little
here and it goes away. He's always loved this man. And
if you come to Christ, and you believe on Christ, and you seek
to be healed of Christ, know this, that he has always had
compassion on you. The Lord says, I am the Lord,
I change not. This compassion didn't change
for this man. And I tell you, His compassion
for this man has never changed. And His compassion for you will
never change. You who have come and been healed
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Is this not so with you? Has He had compassion on you? then He always will have compassion
on you. He will always have love for
you. He said, The Lord appeared to
me of old, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, and with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Has He not
drawn you with such lovingkindness? Have you not found Him both willing
and able to save? Therefore, all who come to Jesus
for cleansing." Can you identify with this man? I tell you, God's people can.
God's people can. And I tell you, God's people
found Jesus to be the same when they came to Him. And you know
what? I still find Him to be the same. Lastly, the result of all who
come to Him. Look at this. And as soon as
He had spoken, He said, I will. Jesus said, I will be thou clean. And immediately as He spoke this,
the leprosy was gone. I tell you, there's never been
one leper, one sinner that has come to Jesus Christ in need of mercy and not found
mercy. Yeah, but what about election?
Yeah, what about it? The only reason you came to Him
is because He chose you. But I tell you this, you that
came to Him, you found Him to be altogether compassionate,
haven't you? Altogether merciful. And I tell
you, believer, He has healed us of all our sins. All our sins. When God imputed our sins to
His Son, and Christ died for those sins, know this, that God
cannot and will not remember our sins anymore. Our sins have
been forever put away, and now We are made the righteousness
of God in Him. We have a new nature, fresh and
clean and pure and spotless. May God reveal to you that there
is no hope no ability in yourselves, the only able Savior is Jesus
Christ. May God move you to come to Him
as a leper in need of cleansing. And you will find Him willing
to save. And the result of everyone who
comes, they are immediately Cleansed. Immediately. Now I tell you, I can empathize
and sympathize with this man, and you that are lost, I can
empathize and sympathize with you, because I was there. I didn't
have any interest in the gospel either. Until God arrested me. Until
God showed me the leprosy of my sin, and I came. And I found
him willing and able. I'm so thankful for such a savior
as ours. May God bless this to your hearts
and give you comfort and peace. Let's stand. We'll be dismissed
in prayer.